Congrats to all. Skorik is so young, I hope she develops into her rank. When you think about how much you changed between 20 and 30, surely it is possible for her to change greatly. She has a lot of time, plenty of facility, and, clearly, support from the company. Is the promotion entirely justified? Probably not, but to do anything but hope for improvement is counterproductive.

According to the book Vaganova Today (which probably many of you have read) the greatness of the Vaganova training (and Mariinsky Ballet) is that when dancers graduate from the Vaganova school they are usually complete artists and not unfinished ones who need to grow a lot in front of the paying public. Granted, that is probably the ideal......the ideal is that a Vaganova dancer graduates and is a complete artist and amazes even in the corps. I'm sure no one is perfect and mistakes are made even by Principals. I am sure famous stars like Vishneva have grown since graduation also, so there is a certain amount of growing. I guess my point is.....people do not want to go see unfinished artists finish their schooling in fairly big soloist roles. I hope she has grown and has become much better. If someone flies to Russia to see the Mariinsky, he/she expects to be blown away.

As I posted on the 'Skorik' thread, in response to Paul's query, Oksana is, so far, a very 'hot or cold' dancer. I have seen, in the space of three days, a poor Chopiniana (tight, barely smiling, hard landing thumps, unmusical) and a lovely Chopiniana (soft, smiling, in tune with music and her partner, poetic arms, etc.). That's why I refuse to place Oksana into the same 'Pot of Shame' as Somova.

Back to yesterday's big changes/roster updating:

In addition to the promotions -- confirmed 100% for Stepanova, Ivannikova, Krasnokutskaya & Romanchikov -- there are 16 new members (7 gals & 9 guys) of the corps de ballet, including the highly-praised-for-years Arina Varentseva and Ernest Latypov...so keep an eye out for them.

Departures:

The lovely young choryphee Evgenia Dolmatova is gone (to ???)

Corps members gone (retired or to other troupes): Lubkovskaya, Molkova, Yakovleva, Kulikov, Makarov, and Y. Safin (the twin brother of choryphee Kirill Safin).

Good for her; in fine company with Sukorukova, Petina & Chaschegorov, fellow MT alumni!Thanks, bianca.

Tiara - you are not alone & I understand your pain, even though I'm still 'in limbo' about a final verdict on her. By Mariinsky standards, her ascent has been at the speed of light: 2nd soloist less than a year ago and now 1st soloist. Perhaps the words of the Mariinsky's 'interim AD' Yuri Fateev may shed light on the reasons for her quick promo:

"Opening night we have a very young girl. Her name is Oxana Skorik. She's very talented. She's an absolutely beautiful swan. If you think about the Queen of the Swans, she is absolutely the right person for doing that ballet, because she has beautiful long lines, long legs, long arms, a very long neck, and she looks like a real swan...."

This sentence quoted by Natalia shows exactly Fateyev's attitude: what is importnat for O/O is not acting, not strong technique, not so called 'soul', plasticity of the movements, musicality. But give him long skinny limbs and he's in heaven.

Good for her; in fine company with Sukorukova, Petina & Chaschegorov, fellow MT alumni!Thanks, bianca.

Tiara - you are not alone & I understand your pain, even though I'm still 'in limbo' about a final verdict on her. By Mariinsky standards, her ascent has been at the speed of light: 2nd soloist less than a year ago and now 1st soloist. Perhaps the words of the Mariinsky's 'interim AD' Yuri Fateev may shed light on the reasons for her quick promo:

"Opening night we have a very young girl. Her name is Oxana Skorik. She's very talented. She's an absolutely beautiful swan. If you think about the Queen of the Swans, she is absolutely the right person for doing that ballet, because she has beautiful long lines, long legs, long arms, a very long neck, and she looks like a real swan...."

Skorik's rapid promotion is bad enough, but also what about the First Soloist ballerinas she is depriving of roles? What about Osmolkina, Novikova and Kolegova? Kolegova at least is being given the chance to dance O/O on tour, but what about Osmolkina and Novikova? They are both wonderful ballerinas, both technically and artistically far superior to Oksana Skorik, but neither of them has danced this role recently. Golub is already woefully overlooked. I am very much afraid that Fateyev's favoured Oksana Skorik will go straight to the top of the list for debuts and chances in new ballets, and many wonderful ballerinas are going to be overlooked.

Something positive! Keenan Kampa is now listed on the MT website's roster. Despite rumors & Keenan's own statements in the current Dance Europe magazine, of being Choryphee, she joins the troupe as Corps de Ballet. This is so right, IMO. Like Stepanova and others recently promoted to Choryphee after 3+ yrs in the Mariinsky corps, I'm sure that Keenan will have great chances to earn her way to that status, with hard work...as so many other dancers still in the corps and overdue for promotion to choryphee, such as Batoeva and Keenan's own classmates at the Vaganova, Marchuk and Sodoleva.